Individual hunting methods

[leadball]

How do all here choose to hunt deer,as in methods. I was thinking about that as I was using my Labrador to hunt deer sheds instead of grouse in the now snowless woods. I love to use one of those aluminum folding chairs that come with their own case. I have different ambush points using natural ground cover and a turkey feather to watch the wind. I use no scents except for a mild cover scent. I use no calls. I wash my body and clothes with a scentless soap and store them in a bag with pine boughs. Also, who shed hunts in the spring? I love it and I trained my Lab to find them. He needs someway to earn his keep in the off season.

 

Interesting about training your lab to hunt sheds. A good friend of mine is doing the same thing.

How I hunt depends on the weather and whether I'm on our place or a larger piece of ground. I love to still hunt and often do if conditions permit. These hardwood forests can be like trying to walk thru a bowl of cornflakes without milk on them if it's dry. In those conditions I usually hunt from one of my stands as I do on our place as it's only 36 acres. I have access to about 60 more acres on the neighbor and if the wind is right I'll still hunt the whole 96.

I do my scent control much as you do, sans the cover scent. I use either pine or cedar in the bags where I keep my clothes.

Vic

 

[BUERICH]

i hunt mostly from stands, or still hunt on the ground. lately have also done some walk hunting at night for hogs. me and my brother go out and walk the road or game trails and listen for the hogs rooting. do our best to get into range and what we think will be a clear shot in the dark, and then hit the spotlight. have only bagged one hog liek this so far. but have gotten up on some others. we've been hunting the place for 15yrs though, so we know the raods, trails, and brush pretty well. i wouldn wanna go into a place i didn know in the dark.

 

[roundball]

How do all here choose to hunt deer,as in methods. I was thinking about that as I was using my Labrador to hunt deer sheds instead of grouse in the now snowless woods. I love to use one of those aluminum folding chairs that come with their own case. I have different ambush points using natural ground cover and a turkey feather to watch the wind. I use no scents except for a mild cover scent. I use no calls. I wash my body and clothes with a scentless soap and store them in a bag with pine boughs. Also, who shed hunts in the spring? I love it and I trained my Lab to find them. He needs someway to earn his keep in the off season.

No scents...IMO, I don't believe there's anyway we can completely cover up our scent coming from exhaled breath, our hair, etc, etc...I do wear clean cloths washed with unscented detergent and high top rubber boots, but that's the extent of it.

I hunt from tree stands most of the time, more for my own safety than anything else...I can't still hunt effectively in dry leaves, and 99% of the time the deer win when I play the game of still hunting...it's nice to do, it's actually enjoyable, and it 'seems' more like hunting...but I've only killed one deer still hunting...mostly white flags in the thick stuff I hunt.

So I usually find a bottom, walk a creek or drainage ditch until I find a natural deer trail cossing, locate a good stand tree within 50yds, and let them come to me.

I believe the most important thing to do is always work the wind...I select the stand locations so my entry is walking into the normal prevailing wind for that given location...I check the weather before I leave to see which way the wind is blowing and select which stand I'll hunt based upon that.

(only 6 more months!)
:redthumb:

 

[GobblerKnob]

I prefer to still-hunt. I don't have the patience to sit still for hours on end. I like to hunt during the middle of the week when no one else is out and about. I killed this little guy by doing just that this past deer season in PA. It was the first Friday and I jumped him from his bed at 1210. I bleated with my mouth and he stopped. The other guys were back at camp with their feet propped up already. For the record, I despise ATV's but I don't mind telling you, it sure was nice to have one when draggin' this guy out! ::
Rick

 

[rabjr]

For the record, I love ATV's. Mine allows me to do my own scouting, find the right spot to hunt. It takes me into and out of the woods and hauls my harvest out with little effort.

 

[freetrapper20]

When I lived in Pa. I mostly hunted from ground blinds, mountain ledges and also did some still hunting. Open forest and farm land. Here in NE NC I had to change my tactics and now mostly hunt from tree stands. I mainly use a portable climber. Thick, overgrown with underbrush pine forests and swamplands here. In most spots the reeds are over my head. Most shooting opportunities are close, very close. I always play the wind. On occasion I use raccoon urine cover scent if I have to walk thru trail areas and occassionly use scent blocker spray. Rely heavily on hearing here, as you can almost always hear them coming before you can see them. I always make a bleat noise to stop moving deer in an opening where I can get a clean shot. Getting up off the ground helps to get you out of the mosquitos around here too. I'll chew a few pine needles to mask my breath for the deer and it seems to help a bit with the skeeters also. On my property in WVa I hunt more like I did in Pa. Never had a 4 wheeler until I got that property 3 years ago. Steep and mountainy. I mainly use it to haul wood and do work on the property. I don't ride them in to my stands hunting and such. But I'll use them to carry my deer out after dragging it to a path. (In NC I use a travois I made out of saplings and rope. Looks primitive except for the 2 rims I have on the end.)

 

[Dale D]

Usually from a treestand. I will still hunt, but only when the ground is damp enough to quiet the leaves.Otherwise it's a big waste of time around here. The deer hear that crunching from so far away that they're in the next county laughing at you while you poke around trying " unsuccesfully" to be quiet. DALE

 

[cayugad]

I hunt from tree stands and ground blinds. If there is snow on the ground or especially if it is raining, then I will spot and stalk an area. It seems to work for me... I just keep in mind of the wind and the lay of the land. Deer tend to follow natural escape routes if not pushed hard, which are good areas to stalk.

 

[bob1961]

this is the only deer i harvested form a tree stand....and it was my first deer i've taken and did it with a bow....

i haven't hunted from a tree in bout 15 years....now i've been finding a spot in the woods that look good and clear the leaves from around the tree to a diameter of bout 4' so i can walk around the tree to keep it between me and the deer and not make any noise in the leaves doing so....and i usually carry a milk crate with me to sit on with my self inflating hunting seat and just prop my rifle across my legs....or still hunt when it is good fer me to do so....my 8 pointer i took this past bow season i was still hunting and he didn't know i was in the woods at the same time he was....i guess it all hinges on what the day brings on......................bob

 

[Gordon Horn]

WOW, Bob! When I first glanced at that pic I mistook your deer for a red angus steer or sumthin'. Good body size, there. He should have really rolled out the meat as well as makin' a great wall-hanger. Good goin!


Flatlander

 

[Slamfire]

When I was a young man I could not sit, so was forced to learn to still hunt. Now that I can barely hobble, I find sleeping in a tree to be great fun. :shocking: I guess I'll have to get one of the ground blinds, so I won't fall more'n the height of a stool. :crackup:

 

[roundball]

When I was a young man I could not sit, so was forced to learn to still hunt. Now that I can barely hobble, I find sleeping in a tree to be great fun. :shocking: I guess I'll have to get one of the ground blinds, so I won't fall more'n the height of a stool. :crackup:

:RO:
For me, tree stands have always been the most productive, but it's hard to beat the comfort of sitting on the ground in the pretty October/November woods, leaning against a tree with a rifle across my lap...don't care if I fall asleep or not...did more ground sitting last year than I ever have...probably will again this year
:redthumb:

 

[Ron LaClair]

I've hunted just about every way legally possible but my favorite method is float hunting.

 

[Dave K]

The terrain where you hunt makes all the difference! Here in flat land N.W. Ohio, if you can still hunt across a barren field and walk into bow/ml'er range in a 5acre woods, you are GOOD or at least GOOD and LUCKY. Tree stands, ground blinds and drives are the way most deer are taken here. The land is just to flat to conceal your movements. Scents? I wash my clothes in baking soda and they stay outside. I shower with scent free soap before i hunt. To me, a cover up scent is like perfume on a lady in a pizza resturant. I will still know she is there.

 

[Stumpkiller]

No scents, no camo (unless I'm bow hunting), no ATV's, no binoculars, no scopes, no lures, baits, phemerones, decoys, rattles, calls, grunts, etc. I just sit still or move extremely slow and stay very conscious of the wind.

Scout a likely funnel. Get in an hour before sun-up and attach a ground-level seat to a tree if there is no suitable stump. Sit until 9:30AM or 10:00AM (or until feet are numb). Still-hunt until 2:00PM, munching a PB&J and an apple for lunch. Return to AM spot or go to alternate PM spot until dark.

I hunt all day, and have taken many deer when the lunch crowd has packed out or started back towards their stands and spooked them into me. I've also walked up on actively feeding, as well as bedded deer mid-day. The season only lasts a few weeks, so I'm not going to blow it eating greasy food at a truck-stop or diner. ::

I hunted a couple times from tree-stands. My attention span is too short when I'm awake, and my neck is too fragile when I'm asleep.

 

[OTHERN]

I can't stand to look at the same tree all day, so I still hunt. 3 steps MAX, stop, look, look ,look and then continue. Turn full circle every so often as they are sneeking out behind. This is for both Elk and Deer. I find that Elk and Whitetail are the same, both like the thickest, nastiest stuff you can find. The difference is that you can usually go back day after day to the same place for a Buck, however a Bull will move on after 1 or 2 contacts with a human. Probably not as successful as a sitter, but a lot more fun in my opinion.

 

[Keith]

No binoculars? Man you are really trying to make it simple.

I hunt either by sitting on stand or still hunting. I haven't got a monkey's tail so I don't climb trees. I like still hunting best, but it is not real effective for deer :imo:. Usually it is just to hard to move quietly enough. Float hunting is great where you can do it. It is my favorite duck hunting method.

 

[MikeNV]

When I lived back east I would use a stand during the early morning and late afternoon hours. During the day I would still hunt. But now living out west in NV it is a totally different ball game. What I found works best out here is get to high ground, glass (binos or spyglass) during the morning hours and then follow the deer you spot until they bed down, let them get sleepy and then plan your stalk..I have been very sucessful using this method.

 

[smokeblower]

I use a metal folding chair and sit in a blackberry -thorn thicket near a well used creek crossing. Or, my favorite method is to sip coffee off the back porch and pick the chosen one off around the cattle feeding area.

My wife uses a 2002 Dodge ram truck to take hers. :curse:

Never take more than you or friends and family can eat.